2024-12-30 Select Players who hit 50+ HR in a season, but did not lead the majors

MONDAY  — 30-Dec

Q.  Who has more career RBI in World Series games than any other player?

Hint: #1  He lost the career regular season strikeout record to Willie Stargell.

Hint: #2  The timing of his one batting title couldn’t have been better.

A.  MICKEY MANTLE  [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  He retired with 40.  Yogi is right behind him with 39.

-  #1  Mantle took the K crown away from Babe Ruth in 1964 and held it (1,710) until 1978 when Willie Stargell passed him and held it for 4 years.  The man who passed Stargell in 1982, still holds it!  There are now 40 players with career K totals greater than Mantle’s.

-  #2  He hit .353 in 1956, by far his highest to that point.  He also led w/130 RBI that year.  They lined up neatly with his 52 HR to give him a Triple Crown.

FCR -  Ronn Tarter, Cary, North Carolina

Incorrect guesses:  Yogi Berra

 

 

TUESDAY  — 31-Dec

Q.  Only four players have walked six times in one game.  Who was the first to do it?

Hint: #1  He was the first player to hit more than three hundred home runs during the administration of a single U.S. president.

Hint: #2  He was an All-Star only the second and third times he won an MVP.

A.  JIMMIE FOXX  [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  Foxx had 6 BB in St. Louis on 16-Jun-1938.  He walked in the 1^st, 3^rd, 4^th, 7^th, 8^th & 9^th at the hands of Browns’ pitchers Les Tietje, Ed Linke & Russ Van Atta.  Since then 6 BB in 1 G has been done by Andre Thornton, Jeff Bagwell & Bryce Harper.  Foxx won his 3^rd MVP that year.

-  #1  Foxx hit 353 HR 1933-1943,  benefitting from FDR’s being re-elected thrice.

-  #2  Foxx’s 1^st MVP, the 1^st ever by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) was in 1932, the season before the advent of baseball’s annual All-Star game.  He lost out on a Triple Crown that year by .003 for the batting title to Dale Alexander who won w/.367, playing for DET & BOS.

FCR -  Phillip Fickling, San Diego

Incorrect guesses:  Hank Greenberg, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Mel Ott, Roger Maris, Johnny Bench       

 

 

WEDNESDAY  — 01-Jan

Q.  Which one-time White Sox player is the only one to win the All-Star Game Home Run Derby more than twice?

Hint: #1  In one three-year stretch, he had at least 140 RBI in three consecutive seasons.

Hint: #2  He was the first member of the Hall of Fame to record seasons of 40 home runs for a team in both leagues.

A.  KEN GRIFFEY, Jr.  [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  Griffey won the HRD in 1994, 1998 & 1999.  Those who  have won twice are Prince Fielder, Yoenis Cespedes & Pete Alonso.

-  #1  In 1996, 97 & 98 Griffey put up 140, 147 & 146 RBI.  He followed up w/134 in 1999.

-  #2  In 1994 w/SEA, Griffey led the AL with 40 HR in that shortened season.  In his first season with CIN, he again hit exactly 40.

FCR -  Jeff Fink, Howell, New Jersey

Incorrect guesses:  Jim Thome, Bill Melton, Sammy Sosa, Dick Allen, Greg Luzinski, Frank Thomas

 

 

THURSDAY  — 02-Jan

Q.  Which player was publicly feted by his team’s owner with a plaque describing the player as the greatest clutch hitter ever in the [team] history?

Hint: #1  Notwithstanding, he was the last twentieth century American Leaguer to go an entire season (min 20 AB ) without collecting a hit.

Hint: #2  He set major league career records for home runs, RBIs and hits from the designated hitter position.

Hint: #3  Ten times in his career, he wore the Golden Sombrero.

A.  DAVID ORTIZ   [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  A plaque was presented to Ortiz on 06-Sep-2005 Boston Owner John Henry & President Larry Lucchino declaring that Ortiz was “The greatest clutch hitter in the history of the Boston Red Sox”.  He had 11 career walk-off HR during the regular season & 2 during the 2004 postseason, the 1^st of which clinched the AL Division Series.

-  #1  Was 0 for 20 in 1999.  (He did walk 5 X, so there’s that.)

-  #2  “Big Papi” the DH, finished with 485 HR; 1,590 RBIs; & 2,192 H.

-  #3  One more K than a 3-HR “Hat trick” has been called “Golden Sombrero” since about 1977.  Here are Papi’s = 4K X 10.

FCR -  Dennis Walls, Orrington, Maine

Incorrect guesses:  Edgar Martinez, Hal McRae, Reggie Jackson, Frank Thomas, Orlando Cepeda

 

 

FRIDAY  — 02-Jan

Q.  Who passed Babe Ruth on the career doubles list on Mothers' Day earlier this century?

Hint: #1  He won the Home Run Derby in the middle of the best offensive output season of his career.

Hint: #2  He had walk-off single that few people will forget.

A.  LUIS GONZALEZ  [Wiki Bio]

-  Ans.  On 14-May-2006, Gonzalez hit his 507^th career double, passing the Babe.  He ended with 596, now 19^th on the all-time list.

-  #1  Gonzalez won the 2001 HRD at Safeco Field in Seattle.  His HR (57), PA (728), R (128), BB (100), OBP (.429), SLG (.688), OPS (1,117), TB (419), EBH (100) & WAR (7.9) were all personal bests, all in the 8^th year of his 19-year career in the Bigs.  [N.B.  Not only did he never hit 50 HR in a season in any other year, he never hit 40 and only once hit more than 30 (31 in 2000).

-  #2  His hit drove in the winning R in the 7^th G of the 2001 WS, giving ARI their 1^st (&, so far, only) championship.

FCR -  Walt Cherniak, Woodbine, Maryland

Incorrect guesses:  Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter, Garret Anderson, Miguel Cabrera, Freddie Freeman, Barry Bonds, Robin Ventura.         

 

 

SATURDAY  — 04-Jan

Q.  Who was the first player to hit forty major league home runs in a season while playing for two major league teams, one in the American League and one in the National League?

Hint: #1  He won the MVP of the summer wood-bat league one year, but his cousin was MVP in the majors.

Hint: #2  He became the only player traded after a fifty-home run season.  {Shh… It might have been the quietest 50-HR season ever in the majors.}

A.  GREG VAUGHN  [SSHoF Bio]

-  Ans.  In 1996, Vaughn hit 31 HR for MIL (then an AL team) & was traded at the deadline to SDP where he managed to hit 10 more off NL pitching.

-  #1  Vaughn played for the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL), leading the team to league titles in both seasons & was league MVP in 1985.  His ovate cousin Mo was AL MVP a decade later.

-  #2  Vaughn hit 50 HR in the NL in 1998 when McGwire& Sosa were soaring past Roger Maris’ 1961 mark.

FCR -  Jake Bell, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Incorrect guesses:  Gary Sheffield, Johnny Mize, Brady Anderson

 

 

SUNDAY  — 05-Jan

Q.  Who was the youngest player to hit fifty home runs in a National League season?

Hint: #1  He and another player, who also had a relative who played in the majors, both hit their first major league home run in an interleague game against the Twins.

Hint: #2  Mother Nature had him hitting right-handed.  His father thought otherwise.

A.  PRINCE FIELDER  [B-R Bio]

-  Ans.  Fielder hit exactly 50 in his 2^nd full season in the majors, 2007, playing for MIL.  He was 23 years and 139 days old when he hit his 50^th HR on 25-Sep-2007.

-  #1  Fielder, son of Cecil, & Rickie Weeks, brother of Jemile, both hit their MLB 1^st HR on 25-Jun-2005.

-  #2  Father Cecil Fielder taught you Prince to bat lefty at a young age & it stuck throughout his life.

FCR -  Mary Hums, Louisville

Incorrect guesses:  Ryan Howard, Miguel Cabrera, Mel Ott, Andruw Jones, Ken Griffey, Jr.,  Chipper Jones, Johnny Mize

 

 

 

WEEK’S THEME – Select Players who hit 50+ HR in a season, but did not lead the majors

 

Player         Year         HR       MLB Leader     HR          WAR

Mantle............ 1961........... 54........... Maris................ 61            110.2

Foxx............... 1938........... 50........... Greenberg........ 58              93.0

Griffey, Jr....... 1997........... 56........... McGwire........... 58               83.8

Griffey, Jr....... 1998........... 56........... McGwire........... 70               83.8

Ortiz............... 2006........... 54........... Howard............ 58               55.3

Gonzalez........ 2001........... 57........... Bonds............... 73              51.6

Vaughn........... 1998........... 50........... McGwire........... 70              30.9

Fielder............ 2007........... 50........... A-Rod............... 54               23.8

 

Additional legitimate claimants on this week’s theme:

Brady Anderson...... 1996...... 50........... McGwire........ 52            35.0

Sammy Sosa.......... 1998...... 66........... McGwire........ 70            58.6

Sammy Sosa.......... 1999...... 63........... McGwire........ 65            58.6

Sammy Sosa.......... 2001...... 64........... Bonds............ 73            58.6

Aaron Judge........... 2017...... 52........... Stanton......... 59             52.2

Shohei Otani........... 2024...... 54........... Judge............ 58            43.8

KEY:  Bold = Led league

           Bold & Italicized = Led MLB

 

 

 

First Correct Respondent identifying theme – Walt Cherniak, Woodbine, Maryland

 

 

Incorrect theme guesses:

 

Mon     -  500 HR club members who hit more on the road than at home

 

Tues    -  Players who have won multiple MVPs and a Triple Crown

-   Players with 500 or more career HR who have had a 50 or more HR season

-   AL Triple Crown winners

 

Wed     -  Most home runs before turning 25 years old

-   HOFers with the most multi-homer games

 

Fri        -  Youngest players to hit 300 HR

 

Sat       -  50+ homer seasons

 

 

Sun      -  Guys who hit 50 and .300 in the same season.

 

 

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